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Thursday, March 20, 2014

Gleaning day on 29th March nr Broadstairs

We're really excited for 2014! In 2013, we already gleaned
approximately 48 tonnes of produce, equal to over 200,000 meals, with over 200
volunteers across 18 gleaning days. We launched gleaning hubs in Kent,
Cambridgeshire, Sussex, Bristol, London and Manchester, and we hope over
the comingyear to expand to other regions like Lincolnshire and Scotland. We
also achieved extensive media coverage, including Channel 4's River Cottage, the Guardian, BBC
Radio 4's Food Programme and Al Jazeera.

In 2014, we hope to do
far more!

We're happy to announce
that we've found thousands of earthy brassicas going to waste, ready
for gleaning. It's on a farm we've
gleaned from many times before, who enjoyed having us in February so much that
they've invited us back! Last month, we managed to salvage nearly 2 tonnes of
cabbages and cauliflowers that would otherwise have been wasted, and we hope to
do the same again! Join us in the fields of Kent!

Gleaning day on
Saturday 29th March 10am-5pm (TBC):

Join the Arable
Spring! Join us for an idyllic day on a farm near Broadstairs in
the Kent countryside, saving literally tonnes of delicious brassica that would
otherwise have been wasted for charity. All the food will be going to charities
dealing with food poverty via our good friends FareShare in
London. Travel expenses are covered for those travelling from Kent and London –
just check with us first!

Please join us in the fields! If you can
make it, please contact me at ren@feeding5k.org to confirm whether you
can make the whole day, and send me your phone number and where you’ll be
travelling from (e.g. London, Kent, etc.) so we can group you with fellow travel
companions. We’ll then send you finalized details closer to the time. Please get
in touch asap so we have an idea of numbers – the more people we have, the more
brassica we can save! Also, please do check whether you can make it, as lots of
drop outs at the last minute can jeopardise the gleaning day going
ahead!Please spread the word to your friends and networks, and do
recommend any groups you think we should get in touch with!

We're also looking for a
driver to transport the produce from the farm to FareShare in London - if you'd
be interested in driving a van (normal driving license required) for
the day, then please get in
touch!

If you can't join us
this time, watch this space – we’ll have more gleaning days comingup over the coming year!

What
is Gleaning?Gleaning Network UK, recently
featured on BBC
Radio 4's Food Programme and Al Jazeera, and organised
by Tristram
Stuart and Feeding the
5,000, is an
exciting new initiative to save the thousands of tonnes of fresh fruit and
vegetables that are wasted on UK farms every year. Farmers across the country
often have no choice but to leave tonnes of their crops unharvested and get
ploughed back in the soil. These crops often cannot reach the market either
because they fail to meet the retail strict cosmetic standards or because
of overproduction.

We coordinate teams of
volunteers, local farmers and food redistribution charities in order to salvage
this fresh, nutritious food and direct it to those that need it most, such as
homeless hostels and charities. To date, we have salvaged several tonnes of
excellent unmarketable British produce, including apples, cabbages,
cauliflowers, spring greens and kale, and redistributed them to charities such
as FareShare and the Best Before
Project.
Here's some more
info,
our video, and pictures of our last gleaning day.

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Seedy Saturdays

We run a series of Seedy Saturday's during the year (one a quarter) which are around a seed and plant swap but also have other themes like Bees or Apples.
The idea is encourage eveyone to have go at growing food, swap seeds experience and knowledge
This video is from out September 2015 Bee Fest thanks again to PR Films for the video